Danish Lutheran Church - Transcript

[Heloise Bresley:] "What a beautiful sun-shiny day today. The Lord's smiling down on us.

"My earliest memory is coming to church here for services. And when we came the men always sat on this side and the women sat on this side.

"I don't know that it would be full but there was a nice congregation of people that lived in the neighborhood. And usually several generations had attended this church and had been members of the church."

[Donna Pedersen:] "It was built in 1906. It was a Lapp family, Christian Lapp, that had a golden wedding and they had pledged $400 that day to build the church. And the stipulation was that it had to cost $1,600 and it had to be built within two years. And that day there were pledged $2,000.

"This is what we found underneath the alter, and this was used for communion. And they put their wine glasses in here and the bread, and then they would go along the pews and give the communion."

[Heloise Bresley:] "We were married here on April 6th, 1947 at three o'clock in the afternoon. We lived north of here about five miles and we came to the wedding in our truck. My dad drove the truck because it was too -- the roads were too muddy to make it in the car. So when it came time for our 50th anniversary we chose to renew our vows here in Dannevirke at the church and had a reception and a dance following at the hall.

[Donna Pedersen:] "We were married here in 1947. We had our silver wedding here, and we had a golden wedding.

"Oh, I just wonder how they built this. With one carpenter that truly knew what he was doing. And this is just a replica of the churches in Denmark. And we have averaged about two hundred visitors a year. There were people from Denmark that visit here, which is a pleasant surprise, looking for some of their family."

[Heloise Bresley:] "We just think it's just a marvelous monument to those ancestors who sacrificed to build it and then maintain it through the years."